Why not all reusable bags are good for the planet | Did You Know?
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- Опубликовано: 1 июл 2018
- Plastic bags are now banned from most stores across Australia. How much better are the reusable options?
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Major supermarkets, and most states and territories in Australia, are banning the single-use plastic shopping bag. So it's time to find different options. From green bags to degradable bags, hessian bags to cotton totes - are these plastic bag alternatives any better? You'll need to consider how the bags are produced, how many times you'll use it, and how you can dispose of it.
RESOURCES
In full: Here's how plastic bag alternatives stack up
www.abc.net.au/news/science/20...
Report: Life cycle assessment of supermarket carrier bags: a review of the bags available in 2006 (British Environment Agency)
assets.publishing.service.gov...
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#DidYouKnow #PlasticBags
In the Philippines they banned plastic bags and mostly use paper bags or cardboard boxes which products were delivered in. A good option!
But most products we buy we're still sealed in plastics 😔😔😔
They should just reuse the same dumped plastic for sealing products in
Also they can just seal it in paper and cotton wool
That’s just because we like taking sauce packets from other restaurants and using them at home! We save money and waste!
Awesome.
In the old days (before plastic bags became so commonplace), people were more resourceful and less wasteful. Cardboard boxes were often reused to put your groceries in, fish was wrapped in newspaper and bags were often made of straw or paper.
Whenever I go food shopping, I take a cardboard box off the shelves to put my shopping in. I will then repurpose some of the boxes to be used as parcels.
I've just been using those bags made from recycled plastic bottles for years - you fill them up, you empty them, you reuse them, no need to worry about not having enough bags for years!
Glad to see the ABC reporting on actual facts in regards to plastic bags vs alternatives
My dad bought plastic woven bags about 4 years ago and uses them about twice a week. In that time we have only ever needed to buy two more. It is plastic but we are lucky to have good waste disposal facilities in our area :)
You never showed the most practical reusable bag, the nylon tote. Yes It is platic but its also light weight, rollable and easy to have a few in your purse without them taking room or weight. They are washable so you always have clean bags. I have used mine exclusively for over 15 years and they still look brand new. Oh and mine are made from recycled pop bottles.
Hemp bags are the obvious choice
John Snitch
Yes they are.... No money in it for big oil and big chem.
Which is one of the real reasons it. (Cannabis/hemp) was demonised and made illegal in the first place.
Corporations are behind 97% of all evil.
can I have fish in hep bags?
Hemp gets stronger when wet which is why the British navy was a big customer for hemp rope. Hemp grows like a weed which is why cannabis gets its slang name "weed".
Nevermore you literally can wash them in the laundry, and they will come out sterile.
Oh shut up druggie
I'll just bring a box.
The heavy duty bags don’t get reused. We just threw out about two hundred that were used once. The old bags we used for rubbish. They also break down way quicker than the new ones. We did a test when this started. We hung 4 different bags on our fence. In three weeks the old bags were dust. The new ones unaffected. The cotton ones were faded and ripped easily. The vinyl one was still exactly the same.
I bought my Jute Shopping Bag in 2003 and I am still using it.
Great video. Very informative.
Hemp would be a good option it was used for centuries and easy to grow. I have reduced my bio waste to zero but finding it difficult to phase out plastic use, it is used in so many different things now and realistic viable alternates are difficult to find.
Single use shopping bags are not single use! I always reuse my bags.
This is absolutely ridiculous. Most people used the thin plastic bags as bin liners. They then finish up in the outside bin and finish up at the tip. These bags break down in the sunlight in a short period of time. Now people use the new thicker plastic bags for food scraps, in place of the grey ones. If you go to the local tip you will see hundreds of them.
yup! that's what I said from the start! what's the point of these thicker plastic bags, they're worse for the environment. We should stick to the brown bag. make it thicker in the bottom in case it leaks so it at least makes it home, since MOST people don't really reuse the bags.
Very helpful indeed!
I now know what it is to experience an incident that only
lasted seconds but seem like minutes, it was a few months ago that now seem
like yesterday in my memory. While walking home just before dark, a few blocks
from my apartment building, crossing a street when out of the corner of my eye
a large what I assumed was an animal rushing toward me, well as it would turn
out it was a large wind-swept plastic bag, if I was one of those with a weaker ticker,
I might have been a goner right then on the spot. In my New York State, the
banning of single use plastic bags is moving toward consideration, I hope it passes…
I think it should be noted that due to the 15c bags being made of a heavier plastic a checkout operator is able to put more items in the bag reducing the overall amount of bags needed.
I think people also should note that since the bags are not free anymore and since the ban has created such a discussion more people are likely to simply carry their items if they have only bought a few things
I think in the long term this ban will be worth it especially once people get into the habit of bringing their own reusable bags.
Lachlan Brown which increases injuries yay
I reuse regular bags a few times, but recently switched to reusable bags because the can accomodate cartons with sharp corners and deform soft items such as bread less. I only ever throw out bags if they are torn by stained by root vegetables or mud.
Same
I don't get it when people buy one or two little things and ask them to put in a plastic or small plastics and when they get home they just threw the plastics away. They just don't know how to place it directly in their spacious bag. People needs to be educated about plastics and how to reuse it.
I make no sew bags from old t shirts. It takes about 5-10 minutes to make one.
Thanks Lynette :) I just searched for a video on that, looks easy enough, I might give it a go. I was trying to make string bags, which is a big of a fun craft project & sort of works, but the holes are annoying when trying to use. The t-shirt bags look like they might work better & should also be pretty lightweight to carry on public transport
Lilac Lizard - I also learned how to make them by watching RUclips videos. I am currently using two cotton bags that I bought 2 or 3 years ago and two tshirt bags when I go shopping.
Very cool.
A bit weird there was an ad for a plastic bag conpany before this video played...
It all boils down to personal habits. Plastic is detrimental mostly in cases where it is disposed of improperly and not recycled. You have to use an organic cotton bag 150 times more than a plastic bag in order to even out the greenhouse gases (used to produce the products) between the two. Use a plastic bag two times and that goes to 300 uses of the cotton bag to even out the greenhouse gasses. Taking what is called "Life Cycle Analysis" (includes water use, fertilizer and overall environmental impact) you must use the cotton bag 20,000 times more than a plastic bag before it becomes more environmentally friendly than a plastic bag. This plastic "thing" is a false agenda driven by virtue signaling people. No matter what you choose, reuse as much as possible and dispose of properly if you truly want to reduce your impact upon the environment. Don't even think I'm from the petro or chemical business...way far from it, I just don't approve of virtue signaling propaganda.
This is the best video eveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer! ty so much for this valuable info :)
Wtf we can't never win
the day you manage to get rid of plastic, I will eat a dozen hemp bags. Yes, I want to get rid of plastic, but then you will have to change the lifestyle. Modern life is not like it was 80 years ago when I was young. We grow our own spuds, most vegetables. Fish was wrapped in paper. Plastic bags didn't exist. Modern life is not like that, and the day you get rid of plastic, I will crawl to the moon. I have seen shocking photos of birds and other animals suffering from our use of plastic,,,,but tell me what the alternative is.
But we can change
@@cookieboi4449 just reuse what you can, refuse products you don't need, compost if you can or if your local municipality has that option, pick up litter where you see it and don't litter 🚮 and just lean what better alternatives work for you
Just wonderful, I have been researching "is it safe to drink water from plastic bottles?" for a while now, and I think this has helped. Ever heard of - Denadison Simplified Dominance - (should be on google have a look )? It is a great one of a kind product for discovering how to find a great alternative to single use plastic minus the hard work. Ive heard some unbelievable things about it and my colleague got excellent results with it.
It's a marketing Ploy. The 'Free' bag has to be scanned after getting it as you approach the checkout. It's free because no-one can resist 'Free'. After a period picking up a free bag will be instinctive to shoppers and they won't be trained touring their own.
Then when the habitual pattern is set, Coles will introduce a charge when scanned - perhaps 5 cents and so on up until a larger cost can be recouped. Hey presto a profit from selling plastic bags and still complying with the law. Very clever marketing.
While this was educational, I do have to say bull on the green bags. I work at a grocery story called King Soopers in Colorado and I seen people use green bags more than just 11 times till they break.
It's not about usage till they break. It's about the energy used to make the bag. Once the green bag is used 11 times,it's a break even point compared to a single use bag. Use it 10 times,& the single use bag is more efficient. Use it 12 or more & the green bag comes out ahead.
Great video
Cotton bags are made of leftover and recycle cotton.
Some Asian countries have been using bio-degradable plastic bags with all different sizes and they are beautiful.
Time to grow some jute in Australia.
can you put fish in jute bags? or are fish prepacked in plastic?
bender banana For health reason they always have a ultra thin soft plastic wrap. Then wrap with paper. That goes for all meat.
Hemp would probably make more sense, I think it's probably similar in environmental costs to jute, but it produces seed as well, which is now legal for eating in Australia, so double use crop :)
From my understanding the outside fibres produce hessian/course materials, while the inner fibres are soft & cotton like & then the seeds are eaten & there's no real waste, just the processing chemicals or environmental stresses in production (which I don't think would be higher than other fibres)
we don't exactly have much of that biome.
0:02 littering
We should have a global pick up litter day in January!
Those reusable bags made from recycled polyester that most supermarkets sell are poor quality in that they easily tear like paper. 😬 I cannot believe some companies are making fancy shopping bags from this low quality material that does not last. It is a waste of the consumer's money.
Just be careful with the paper bag and suck it up. Or buy a reusable bag. I feel like the jute or green bag are the best option as long as you dont throw them out for whatever reason.
Cardboard boxes, duh
hmm why aren't they making a return to supermarkets? They'd actually work as a bin option too
@@lilaclizard4504 grandma cant carry cardboard boxes with 22 lbs of food in it
@@tjellis1479 Grandma needs a walker/trolley to push shopping on instead of carrying it, but Grandma shouldn't be carrying 22 lbs of food anyway, why aren't the grandkids doing some of the cooking & shopping for her? (plus teaching her how to use decimal & setting her up for home deliveries)
*Back in my day...*
So the garbage bag issue is the one I'm looking for a genuine & easy solution to. Anyone have any suggestions on this? I have a disability, so bending over & lining it with newspaper & then gathering that up is not feasible for me
We Humans should be banned not plastics..!
One/ two child policy for all
Do you know, your shirt collar is tilted towards your side :)
What do these comments even mean lmao
In all cases they must be cleaned before reuse. Factor that in and the carbon and chemical outputs are high.
Foodsafety.com.au states that bags should be washed in your washing machine if they are fabric, adding carbon, phosphates and cellulose fibres to the environment. They should also be stored certain ways and failure to follow these safety rules (yes, rules) is increased cost of healthcare. In short, you can never do just one thing and even regulations can have unexpected and perverse outcomes. I would call for evidence based decision making but the decision has been made.
This is true in most, but not all cases. Bags containing food that is not otherwise packaged must be cleaned. If you look at other use cases, for example bags used for things like clothes they do not have to be cleaned. Packing bags differently can reduce the amount of washing required and increase food safety. What we saw in England after the introduction of a bag tax was an 85% decrease in single use plastic bags. Where there was a food safety risk we exclude those items from the bag charge. Because the charge has already been implemented in the UK, data will have been available surrounding the overall impact before this decision was made.
stupid to suggest reusing bags to put sealed food into is somehow more of a health risk than money use! Start regulating money washing rules after every use & then you might have more credibility, otherwise, sorry but this is just ridiculous! Kids schoolbags don't get washed daily do they! Even if they have fruit they are eating loose inside them
Wal Mart tells me today I can't bring in my reusable bag anymore... AND I DO NOT USE SHOPPING CARTS, AND YOU CAN'T MAKE ME.
what...? walmart can eat dirt
Something needs to be done about Woolies not allowing competitors reusage bags to be used. No other supermarkets enforce those rules. That just creates more pollution if you need to buy separate bags for Woolies.
Fiji just went plastic free. With no alternatives for plastic bag. I found one.. millionaire in 2 short hewrs.
I have some cloth bags in the boot of my car. I wheel the shopping trolley full of purchases and just put them in the boot of my car. On arrival at my home I then pack the items into my bags and take them to my kitchen. I unload the bags and then take them out to the boot of my car again. All household rubbish goes into my wheelie bin which in turn goes to the local dump. I use freezer bags for my freezer when absolutely necessary which isn't often. I couldn';t give a toss if its time consuming or costly or if it stuffs up global warming. That's what I do and its my wish to continue to do things that way. So folks who don't like doing it that way mind your own business and realise what you write here isn't going to change the world. The volcano in Hawaii right now is sending out more fumes than my pitty little bit of rubbish going to the dump ever will. I would suggest research into how to use plastic bags as another product after their use. Like some way of melting them down and then using that product to make plastic fence posts or the like. Time for innovation rather than plastic bag grumpiness.
David Carmichael What a great idea
Great, now I have to wait even longer to get an empty car space because people will have to put their groceries one by one at the parking lot..... Lol......
Go to a supermarket that has a big carpark.
Pyrolosis. Originated in Japan?
I want to purchase 6 potatoes and 4 tomatoes and 1/2 kg fish from Coles, how do I get that to the check-out?
If potatoes and tomatoes and fish are only sold prepacked, then what are they packed in? Please, I am curious, and I care about the environment. Thanks
bender banana exactly the way you used to but you pay 15c per bag for a thicker version of the bag you used to get for free.
In the UK, some of the changes have been:
- Use of paper bags by some retailers when buying "loose" items
- Plastic use is continued for products where there is a food safety risk - IE meat without charges.
- Some retailers have started using reinforced paper bags for goods like potatoes, prepackaged and sold in multiples of kg.
- Reductions in "excess" packaging on prepackaged goods (for example the removal of plastic in goods that were already packaged in cardboard etc)
- Some retailers now allow people to take their own transparent reusable containers to counters for meat and fish.
Every retailer changes the way things are packaged before checkouts differently. It's likely you won't see an immediate change in supermarkets. The changes are going to take time so the only immediate change will be a charge for the plastic bags you get at the checkout.
no changes to fruit department bags where I live
Polypropylene is baned dear
BRAVO "Coles" can we have them permanently back ? Please I do most of my shopping at Coles now, as Woolworths is not looking after their customers > see you in Coles !
I like plastic bags for trash cans
Why is the Australian public paying for this?
So Mary Jane was right all along :-)
ThexBorg I don’t get it, what does spider man got to do with this?
👍👍
The handles are bad on the thicker plastic bags so ive ended up using m once anyway. Other bags are annoying to take with you. I guarantee this will be worse for the environment.
Hello everyone. We should all be aware that the one time use plastic bags are so degradable that they disintegrate very quickly in the open environment. The 15 cents plastic bags are so tough, it will take decades to decay if not at all. Did someone do any study to check this out before banning one time use bags. Furthermore, the bags are more than one time use for many people who use them as bin liners. Now we have to buy plastic bags for bin liners as well as plastic bags to carry groceries. Double the amount of plastic bags in the environment as well as these bags are of higher quality and may not be degradable.
When the UK government introduced similar charges, a large amount of research had been done. We saw an 85% decrease in single use plastic bag use. Some people are now buying plastic bags for bin liners, but what we have seen is a shift by the UK government to target plastic reduction, as well as certain firms moving away from excess packaging reducing waste. What we found in Europe was that customers respond strongly to a tax so are reusing bags more often. The amount of single use plastic reduced outweighs the downsides of an increase in tougher plastics being produced.
Chris Chong Degradable doesn’t mean they leave the environment... it means they keep breaking down (degrade) into smaller and smaller prices that infect more levels of the food chain. Just because something leaves our macro vision doesn’t mean it ceases to exist, see micro plastics.
You don't have to buy plastic bags for shopping. There are so many other options out there for transporting your groceries. You don't need plastic bag bin liners. Again there are many options if you look for them.
All the options are inferior to plastic bags. Why not ban all plastic bags or material if there are so many options. Try it. Ban all PLASTICS!
You are right about bin liners. Coles charge $2.50 per 30 small bin liners. Its basically extortion.
So we cant use nothing
What do we use then?! Plastic is bad for the environment and cotton too?!
Bye 90s 👋🏽 ✌🏽 style bags
Ok, this is absurd, I had to put all the items without a bag in the trunk inside my car and I arrived home with a mixture of my grocery list all spilt in the trunk! #PayMeBack
STOP SAYING "SINGLE USE" !!! FFS ! I used every single one that came home wit me. I don't litter. Don't punish everyone, educate
It's still classified as single-use bc they are mass produced cheaply and intended for single use. Even if you use it twice it's still entering the trash at an alarming rate that a resuable bag would not.
so it's not that fabric bags are bad for the planet, and more like the wasteful ways people use them are bad for the environment.
Why just skip over paper bags? That's ridiculous. They are an excellent source of carbon sequestration, and leave ZERO plastics in the environment. Who cares if they "break".
Their carbon foot print is actually negative so what the actual? Cutting the tree down, transporting and transforming into paper bags is a massive sequestration process, hugely net negative.
This just seemed like a massive ad for Jute.
Whatever. Use as much wood as you can, just don't let it degrade back into the atmosphere.
Can you really worry about water use to make cotton bags when we all have cotton clothes in our wardrobe? I don't see it as an issue.
If you can, just avoid using bags completely, you have two arms!
bye plastic bags
Bangladesh is an independent country. But you said her as a part of India. So sad. I feel ashamed as a citizen of Bangladesh.
So now I have nothing to put all my plastic packaged items in. This is a joke. 99.9% of all the crap in the ocean comes from India and Asian countries. Oh and buy the way now I will have to buy plastic bin bags instead of reusing the shopping bags for bin bags.
Yeah, stop importing Chinese rubbish, shut down Chinese factories unless they start producing something resembling "quality". They are exporting this utter crap all over the Planet . THAT is what the environment needs, not a petty plastic bags push by ABC & Co.Political correctness overran this org. Pathetic !
Get an education please. Then edit your comment.
Margot Prey tell all knowing one, how would you like me to edit my comment to satisfy your demanding requirements?
The “crap” coming from Asian countries is produced to meet the demand of us western customers and many of it is produced by outsourced western companies, so we can have an impact on them to mitigate the effects of them having a worst environmental impact through their loose legislation. Also You night find it useful to use old newspapers as bin liners for smaller bins.
to Lazy DOG, good response to Magot sorry Margot ! Looks like I need some edu. as well :)
One thing can save this planet
Less humans.
Max 2 child policy for all